Ticketbud Tidbits EP 14 – SHOW NOTES… Taste of Mexico Food Festival

Aaron Jimenez (Marketing and Membership Associate) and Conner Moncrief (Development Associate) from Mexic-Arte Museum. Hosted by Ticketbud CEO Kayhan Ahmadi.

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Event Organization: The Mexic-Arte Museum

This week we were joined by two event organizers from the Mexic-Arte Museum located on 5th and Congress here in Austin, Texas. The Mexic-Arte Museum was founded in 1984 by three artists, Sylvia Orozco, Sam Coronado, and Pio Pulido to share the art and culture of Mexico with Texas.

The Museum is a non-profit organization with the mission of cultural enrichment and education through the collection, preservation and presentation of traditional and contemporary Mexican, Latino, and Latin American art and culture. The museum exhibits art by established and emerging artists and also hosts events during the year such as  Taste of Mexico and Day of the Dead festival.

Event: Taste of Mexico

From humble beginnings in 1998, under a different name, Taste of Mexico has evolved from a small community event to an experience more and more people are excited about participating in.  The culture and cuisine of this event is an extension of what the Mexic-Arte Museum brings to the Austin community.

This annual Austin food festival brings together inspired executions of Mexican cuisine from over 35 central Texas restaurants, food trucks, and vendors. Paired with a diverse bar of fine Tequilas, Mezcales, wines, beers, and other refreshments. This year’s festival features a variety of interactive activities and demonstrations exploring the influence of Puebla in Mexican cuisine.

Aaron and Connor explain how the event showcases the diversity and intricacy of Mexican cuisine, rebelling against the idea that Mexican food is just Tex-Mex.  They have curated the best of Mexican food that Austin has to offer. People can expect to see some of the bigger name Mexican restaurants they are familiar with, as well as discovering amazing smaller restaurants and food trucks they perhaps haven’t come across.

The event shows that Mexican food is of the people, it’s influenced by region, family histories and ingredients. It isn’t static, it evolves and continues to change over time. Part of the experience  of this event from year to year it that there will continue to be new interpretations of this delicious cuisine.

Event Goals

Aaron and Conner explain that they have two key goals for the event. One is as a fundraiser for Mexic-Arte Museum’s exhibitions and art programs. The other is community engagement and outreach. This event is a great way for the museum to engage with the local community in a new way. Their aim is to connect with a wider audience, including members of the community that may not have visited the museum before. The festival experience gives people a taste of Mexican culture, designed to entice people to learn  more about the other cultural experiences the museum has to offer.

Fundraising

All proceeds from this event go back into the community to fund Mexic-Arte Museum’s Exhibitions and Award Winning Art Education Programs. This includes the Mexic-Arte Museum’s nationally recognized Screen it Program, which introduces youth to basic screen printing techniques and careers in the art field. Screen it! received the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program award, a project of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities presented by Honorary Chairman, Michelle Obama.

Vendor Participation

Aaron and Conner explain that for some of the more popular well known restaurants, their participation is about a desire to connect directly with the community in a different way. For the chefs that are usually back of house, this event allows them to interact and talk about the food they create and why they’re passionate about it. For the smaller players it’s very much about discovery, an opportunity for them to get more people to know who they are and what great food and experiences they have to offer.

Event Promotion

Influencer marketing has definitely played a role, according to Aaron and Conner. Relying on influencers to tell the story of your brand. This meant working collaboratively with the chefs and restaurants participating in the event to help get the word out, together amplifying the reach of the event.

Taste of Mexico is also creating and sharing a series of micro documentaries with five of the featured Chefs. The documentaries are featuring Puebla, getting chefs to discuss their influences and where they see the cuisine going.  This gives people some additional insight into the cultural experience and who will be there, before attending the event.

Event Sponsorships

As the event is a fundraiser for the museum we have to make sure it’s profitable. Sponsorships can be a challenge for events, so revamping the sponsorship program played a significant role in the event planning. Creating closer relationships with sponsors has been important to ensure each sponsor is getting the most out of the partnership.

Learn more about what Taste of Mexico do to create tailored sponsorship packages that keep sponsors happy and new sponsors eager to sign up.

Ticket Pricing

It is important to Taste of Mexico to be both profitable and accessible. They explain how sponsorships play an important role in subsidizing tickets prices, ensuring the event remains affordable to the community. They evaluate ticket pricing each year by assessing the cost of the event, reviewing ticket sale numbers for the previous year, and factoring in sponsorship funds. This helps identify a ticket price that is affordable, that covers costs and still raises money for the museum.

Event Details:

Wednesday May 1st 2019, 5:30 pm –  9:00 pm
Brazos Hall – 204 E 4th St, Austin, TX 
Get your tickets for this tasty festival

Taste of Mexico